Originally Posted by lurkette

The problem here is absolutist thinking - that smoking in public is the moral equivalent of assault. It might be harmful to your health (so is eating fatty food) and harmful to other people's health (so is causing stress), or rude (so is not holding the door open). You can get all up in high dudgeon about it, but really the only thing you're doing is giving yourself an aneurism.

My advice? Chill. Choose your battles. There's a HUGE difference between occasionally being exposed to cigarette smoke in a public place (speaking as an asthmatic, it's annoying) and, say, working in a smoke-filled restaurant for 20 years, and, say, being hit over the head and mugged. There has to be some room for gray area, and the more tolerance for ambiguity you have, the easier you will find it not only to get along with others (and tolerate the conversations in your own head) but to actually effect social change. Nobody wants to listen to a self-righteous blowhard. Not that I'm calling you one, but you'd do well to learn where the line is and steer clear of it.